


Girl Scout Cookies

by agentx13 (rebelle_elle)



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Girl Scouts, Kid Fic, sharon carter appreciation month, stark carter cousins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-10
Updated: 2017-03-10
Packaged: 2018-10-02 07:01:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10212119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebelle_elle/pseuds/agentx13
Summary: Sharon has a plan to get treated like a grown-up instead of a kindergartner. It involves crushing the Girl Scout's cookie-selling competition and maybe opening a savings account.Mission accepted.





	

Sharon is finally in kindergarten. She’s waited for years to be this grown up, only to find out that she has a long way to go. She asks Mommy how long she’ll had to wait, and Mommy says that she’ll always be her parents’ baby. So Sharon asks Aunt Peggy instead, who tells her that she won’t legally be considered an adult until she’s eighteen. Sharon falls into a chair, sighs dramatically, and says, “But that’s so _old._ ”

“Adults tend to be old,” Aunt Peggy says, sounding amused, “until you’re older than they are, and they all seem like children.”

Sharon looks over at her, her favorite aunt sitting behind the oak desk in her office that Sharon isn’t supposed to touch. “I won’t seem like a child,” she promises.

“I’m sure you won’t, darling.”

Sharon will always, _always_ love her Aunt Peggy. Aunt Peggy treats her like a grown-up even though she isn’t one yet. Not that she doesn’t feel like one. Sharon already thinks that she’s more mature than most of the kids in her class, especially the boys.

Everyone else still treats her like she was a child. Her mom even insists she join the Girl Scouts. After all, does Sharon really want to be a grown-up, with a savings account and other boring things? And since Sharon is “only” in kindergarten, that means she has to be a _Daisy._

Sharon decides she hates daisies. Why do they have to be the smallest, scrawniest girls? They don’t even get to go camping in the woods, like the Brownies do.

She sulks through the first meeting, then the second. And then, at the third, the troop leader makes an announcement. They’re going to compete with other troops to sell the most cookies.

Sharon hesitates, and then her hand shoots up. When she’s called upon, she asks, “We’re competing with the big kids, too?”

The troop leader nods and smiles. “But don’t feel bad if we don’t win. It’s very, very hard to win.”

Sharon nearly betrays her disdain with a sniff. Hard for _them,_ maybe.

* * *

The forms come in first, and Sharon takes what the troop leader says is too many. Sharon clutches them to her chest and widens her eyes pitifully until the troop leader relents.

Her next step is to cover the basics. She goes to her parents and watches as they place orders. They take the forms in to their workplaces and get more orders, and Sharon takes a form to school and asks the teachers if they want some. They apologize, saying they’ve already placed orders, and send her to other people.

All in all, she’s sold fewer than a hundred boxes. And if that’s all she’s sold, she _knows_ others have sold more.

But that’s okay, because there’s more to her plan than this.

* * *

The cookie boxes come in a couple weeks later. Sharon goes with the rest of the troop for the group sales outside local shops and soon gets in trouble for chasing people through the parking lot to get them to buy cookies.

“You’re getting really into this,” Mommy says, pleased.

Sharon shrugs and tries to help load boxes into Mommy’s car, but she’s too small to pick them up. But at least she gets one box of each kind to try to sell on her own. “They said we get a prize if we win.”

“Oh, so you’re only doing this for the _prize._ ”

Sharon, still shorter than her mom’s hip, tries to look down her nose at her. “Mommy. It’s a _prize._ ”

“Okay, sweetie.” Mommy doesn’t sound so happy. “Who do you want to sell cookies to, first?”

“Aunt Peggy,” Sharon says firmly.

Mommy sighs. Sometimes, Sharon thinks Mommy doesn’t like Aunt Peggy, but that’s impossible, because _everybody_ likes Aunt Peggy. “You really think Aunt Peggy wants to buy cookies?”

Sharon nods fervently.

“Fine.”

* * *

As Sharon expects, Aunt Peggy places an order for two of each box so she doesn’t cut into Sharon’s rations - her words. She even lets Sharon ask anyone on the grounds if they want to buy some, so long as Sharon makes it clear they don’t _have_ to buy any.

She can only find Mr. Fury, who spends a lot of time talking about boring things with Aunt Peggy like protocols and procedures. It’s his job to talk about boring things with Aunt Peggy, and he always has to be nearby in case something boring comes up.

“If you’d cut the strings,” Mr. Fury tells Aunt Peggy, “I could hide with the rest of them.”

Aunt Peggy sounds amused again - Sharon loves her amused voice. “Brave men don’t hide unless it’s for tactical reasons, Nick.”

“Like I said,” Mr. Fury gripes. His supposed bad moods never scare Sharon the way they do other people, probably because she knows from experience that he’ll still be nice to her even when he hasn’t gotten enough sleep or coffee or tea or whatever reason he’s so grouchy.

She extends the clipboard to him. “Aunt Peggy says you don’t have to buy if you don’t want to,” she says solemnly. “But you should really buy the Thin Mints. Everybody loves the Thin Mints.”

“Can you prove that with a taste test?” He looks down at her her, and Sharon looks to Aunt Peggy. She doesn’t think she’s allowed to open the boxes she’s trying to sell. Her parents had been very firm about her not eating any of them herself, that was for sure.

Aunt Peggy smiles and says, “You get more cookies if you order them, Nick. She has a limited number.”

Mr. Fury sighs and places a larger order than Aunt Peggy. “Do Si Dos are worth the extra work in the gym.”

Sharon doesn’t have any idea what that means, but she nods like he’s just said the wisest thing ever anyway before trying to count up her total, muttering to herself as she tries to work it out.

* * *

The biggest part of her plan is next. She has to wait until Aunt Peggy can pick her up from school, and together they drive to Mr. Stark’s office. Sharon’s backpack and Barbie suitcase are both stuffed with cookie boxes. Sharon likes Mr. Stark. He has a jar of candy at his secretary’s desk that he says is just for her. It isn’t - she’s caught the secretary eating out of it three times, and Aunt Peggy and Mommy have both had to talk to her about the value of sharing. But he lets her choose what candy it is, and that’s almost just as good.

They have to wait outside his office as he finishes talking to somebody, and Aunt Peggy makes small-talk with the secretary while Sharon tries to peek in through the blinds inside Mr. Stark’s office.

He ends up spotting her, and she jumps back. A minute later, the meeting is done, and Sharon is sitting as innocently as she can when a man in an army uniform walks out.

Mr. Stark comes out and greets Aunt Peggy warmly before scooping Sharon up into his arms. He talks to Aunt Peggy about the person who just left, but Sharon isn’t listening. She’s on a mission. She unravels the crumpled cookie order page she has and holds it up for Mr. Stark’s inspection. Right on cue, Mr. Stark makes a fuss about how she’s already old enough to sell Girl Scout cookies, and he and his wife love Girl Scout cookies, and if he doesn’t buy some she’ll never forgive him. Which Sharon doubts, because she’s heard whispered talk about how much trouble Tony gets into, and Mrs. Stark always forgives _him._

Mr. Stark buys what Aunt Peggy calls “an obscene amount,” and Mr. Stark waves her off before inviting her into his office to talk. He stoops to look Sharon in the eye. “Can you run along and play on your own for a while, kiddo?”

“Is Tony here?” Sharon asks.

Mr. Stark looks upset for a moment, but it quickly passes. “‘Fraid not. But you know where his office is. He won’t mind if you make a mess.”

“Really, Howard,” Aunt Peggy admonishes. “You can’t keep-”

But Sharon is already on her way out the door, tugging her suitcase behind her. She knows where Tony’s office is, and she knows that if she doesn’t leave now, one of the grown-ups will insist on walking her there as if she doesn’t know, as if she’s a _child._

There are desks outside the office, almost like Tony has secretaries even though he’s almost never there. Aunt Peggy says that Tony is an adult now, in a way that implies Tony should be more responsible, and he can’t play with Sharon like he used to, but Sharon knows that Tony has bigger, cooler toys than anybody she knows.

One of the employees outside the office looks faintly harried and is talking about how Anthony Stark was not speaking for the company when he said that, and Sharon approaches her desk and waits for her to get off the phone. The woman has strawberry blonde hair, and as irritated as she sounds, Sharon thinks that the lady looks nice. She was also here last time Sharon was here, and Tony had talked to her, so Sharon knows they know each other.

The woman watches her for a couple seconds as she wraps up the conversation, hangs up, takes a breath, and sinks into her chair. After a moment, she pastes on a smile and says, “Hi. Can I help you?”

“Can you call Tony for me?”

“I... don’t have his number.”

Sharon sets her backpack down and pulls out her parents’ emergency notebook. She thumbs through it until she gets to the page were Tony had written his number and hands it over. “That one. Can you tell him that Sharon would like to speak with him, please?”

The woman takes the notebook, obviously unsure of what to do, and Sharon tries not to get impatient. “I’m not sure I- Is this the NSA Chief’s number?” She points to one of the contacts, and Sharon stands on tip-toe to see what she’s pointing to.

“That’s Mr. Bill,” she says. She doesn’t think Mr. Bill is a chief, just another of the military people Aunt Peggy talks to a lot.

The lady looks thoughtful and slowly lowers the notebook. “And what should I tell Mr. Stark you’d like to talk to him about, Sharon?”

“Girl Scout cookies.” She holds up a box for the lady’s inspection, and the lady dutifully looks at it before dialing the number. 

Sharon isn’t surprised when Tony picks up within the first couple rings, and the lady says, “Mr. Stark? I have a young lady named Sharon here who would like to talk to you about Girl Scout cookies.” After a moment, she hands over the phone.

“Tony?”

“Share-bear? What are you doing selling Girl Scout cookies? You’re not a Girl Scout!”

Sharon makes a face. “I am, too! And you have to come help me and buy some.”

“Oh, do I?”

Sharon nods. “Yeah. It’s a contest. Whoever wins gets a prize, and nobody thinks the Daisies can do it.”

“I see.” She hears movement on the other end of the line. “Okay. I’m on my way. You’re at Dad’s office?”

“ _You’re_ office,” she says accusingly. “And are you just getting up? I’m already out of school, Tony!”

“Hey, pipsqueak. So am I.”

“Yeah, but _I’m_ not taking a nap like a little _baby._ ”

“Old people need naps, too.”

“Pfft. You’re not-” Sharon pauses, then looks at the phone. “How old _are_ you?”

Tony groans. “Never mind. Just... stay where you are, and I’ll be there in a minute.”

Naturally, it takes longer than that. The time passes by well enough. The lady’s name is Pepper, and she lets Sharon make a paper-clip chain while they wait for Tony to show up. Pepper was a Girl Scout, too, and she tells Sharon about some of the things Sharon isn’t yet old enough to do.

By the time Tony finally arrives, they’ve paper-clip-chained his desk drawers together and are trying to chain his chair wheels to the desk legs. Pepper spots him first, and they run out as they promise each other not to tell him what they’ve done.

“There she is!” Tony exclaims, scooping Sharon in a large hug. “And where are those cookies?”

Sharon shakes her head. “You can’t have the cookies. You have to fill out the form.” She digs through her backpack and pulls it out of one of the pockets.

Tony smooths it out on Pepper’s desk. “But I can’t have the cookies _now._ ”

Sharon shakes her head again. Why isn’t he getting this? “They only gave me _some_ boxes to sell because they don’t think I can sell them all, but I _know_ I can!” Tony doesn’t answer right away, and Sharon pushes against him. “You get more if you order them!”

Tony searches his pockets for a pen, and signs the form with a pen Pepper hands him. “Fine, fine. I’ll order some.”

“And then can you help me set up a table by the doors?”

Tony twists his head to look at her. “You want to set up a whole _table?_ ”

Sharon sighs the way Mommy does after Daddy tracks mud onto the clean floors. “How am I gonna beat the big kids if I can’t sell a bunch on my own?” she demands.

“Okay, okay, I’ll help you set up a table.” He looks to Pepper. “Hey, Red. Can you set up a table for us?”

Pepper gives him a withering look, and Tony drops down to put his face level with Sharon’s.

“Look sad,” he murmurs out of the side of his mouth, and he pulls an exaggerated sad face himself.

Sharon knows they’ve won when Pepper exhales. Within minutes, Tony is carrying Sharon downstairs on his shoulders, her backpack bouncing on her back and her suitcase in his hands. Pepper finds a tablecloth and prints out a sign, and Sharon and Tony shout that they’ve got cookies for sale as they lead the way down the hall.

“Wait,” Tony says suddenly. “We’re going about this all wrong.” He flashes a brilliant smile at another woman behind a desk and picks up her phone. “Intercom?” She punches in the code, and Tony hops a little to make Sharon giggle before he speaks. “Hello, Stark Industries. This is your overlord’s son speaking. Looking for an excuse to get away from your desk? Help a little girl crush the competition in selling Girl Scout cookies. We’re only going to be in the lobby until she has to go home, and she’s going to have to go soon because of nap time-”

“Tony, no I _don’t!_ ”

“So come get the cookies while you can! Offer not valid in actuality because we have a limited number of cookies, and you’ll have to fill out forms instead. But! Cookies in the lobby! Come and get some!”

By the time Aunt Peggy is ready to go, all of the forms are full and Pepper has had to run copies to meet demand. Pepper also had the idea to put the available cookies on plates so people can taste test them, though after Tony gets his driver to get them milk, Tony and Sharon eat most of the cookies themselves. Tony had tried to look like a troop leader and used someone’s scarf to make a sash, and Sharon laughs every time he gets on his knees and sells cookies in a high-pitched voice.

“I thought I’d find you here,” Aunt Peggy says, amused. “Good to see you again, Tony.”

“You, too.” Tony gets up, but he doesn’t sound as excited to see Aunt Peggy as he usually does. Sharon looks between them in confusion, and Tony scoops her up and places her next to Aunt Peggy. He hands her the backpack and the empty suitcase. “Think we sold enough to beat the other kids?”

“I _think_ so,” Sharon says dubiously. She looks worriedly at the forms in her backpack. 

Tony chuckles. “If it isn’t, just let me know.”

“Tony,” Aunt Peggy says in her don’t-you-dare tone. But she sounds fond again, and that’s better than her tone before. 

Slyly, Sharon gives him a thumbs-up. She will _definitely_ let him know if she hears someone else is doing better.

* * *

Much to all the Girl Scouts’ astonishment, she wins. Much to her astonishment, the prize is an activity set that can’t hold a candle to any of the toys Tony gives her. To Mommy’s astonishment, Sharon sells the activity set at school for ten dollars and asks if she can use the money to open a savings account.

“Why do you want to open a savings account, sweetie?”

“Because I’m a grown-up, and part of being a grown-up is having a savings account.”

Mommy sighs. “Why don’t you just take the time to enjoy being a kid a little longer. You can always grow up later.”

Sharon sighs dramatically in the backseat. Mommy is _never_ going to treat her like a grown-up. 

When she next sees Aunt Peggy and Mr. Fury, the reaction isn’t much better. Aunt Peggy smiles, and Mr. Fury outright laughs.

“A savings account,” Aunt Peggy repeats. “Wouldn’t you rather have something fun?”

Sharon looks at Aunt Peggy as if her aunt were crazy. “I beat everybody, Aunt Peggy. That was fun.”

“I see. And are you planning on beating them all at something else?”

“That’s what the savings account is for. So I can buy shoes that make me taller.” She looks up at Mr. Fury, who’s taller even than Aunt Peggy. “Or stilts.”

“I see,” Aunt Peggy repeats. “Well, then. We’ll certainly have to set one up for you.”

Sharon beams at her. She _knew_ Aunt Peggy would understand.

  
([Source](http://theatrix-the-goddess.tumblr.com/post/160600322160/agentxthirteen-agentxthirteen-sharon-joins))

**Author's Note:**

> I added a fantastic fanart for the fic, courtesy of theatrix_the_goddess! I added a link to their blog in case anyone wants to reblog it or see more of their work! THANK YOU, THEATRIX_THE_GODDESS!!!


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